Tag Archives: International Baccalaureate

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Dear Student and Parent/Guardian,

Your son or daughter is currently taking courses as part of the Pre-International Baccalaureate Program. We would like to meet with students in early February to begin the registration process for the next school year. Please have your son or daughter note the following dates and times and encourage them to listen to the announcements for reminders of these sessions which will all take place in the theatre.

Tuesday, February 7th Period 3 (10:55) – All Grade 10 French Immersion and English students entering Grade 11

Tuesday, February 7th Period 5 (1:11) – All Grade 9 French Immersion and English students entering Grade 10

Tuesday, February 7th Period 6 (2:22) – All Grade 11 French Immersion and English students entering Grade 12.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions you might have.

It’s one thing to know what the International Baccalaureate (IB) might involve, but anyone enrolled on a programme or investigating the qualification for the first time may well be daunted by the prospect. The good news is that they won’t be alone in those fears, as many students share them. They may also turn out to be largely unfounded. “Before starting the IB I felt extremely intimidated,” admits Josh Hammond, a student at St Clare’s school, Oxford. “I had heard countless complaints about the difficulties of the IB. But, once you get going, you become more efficient at time management and the work seems less daunting.” There’s plenty to think about when it comes to the day-to-day reality of following an IB programme and, like Hammond, many students and teachers highlight the importance of good time-management from the outset. “Your IB experience can become quite gruelling if you don’t get on top of it,” says Alex Bird, head of the theory of knowledge and world religions faculty at UWC Atlantic College. “If you’ve got a deadline in six months, don’t wait until it’s upon you. Chip away at it.” Although students need to sharpen their organisational and study skills, they needn’t do it silently – or without support. “IB students are expected to be risk-takers and communicators,” says Sarah Jinks, a biology teacher at St Clare’s. “But the tasks we set are designed to help them develop those skills. You’re not expected to have them when you arrive.” Read more at International Baccalaureate – ‘It teaches you not to give up’ – Schools – Education – The Independent.

This public elementary school has taken the idea of global education and run with it. All students take some classes in either Japanese or Spanish. Other subjects are taught in English, but the content has an international flavor. The school pulls its 393 students from the surrounding highly diverse neighborhood and by lottery from other parts of the city. Generally, its scores on state tests are at or above average, although those exams barely scratch the surface of what Stanford students learn. Before opening the school seven years ago, principal Karen Kodama surveyed 1,500 business leaders on which languages to teach (plans for Mandarin were dropped for lack of classroom space) and which skills and disciplines. “No. 1 was technology,” she recalls. Even first-graders at Stanford begin to use PowerPoint and Internet tools. “Exposure to world cultures was also an important trait cited by the executives,” says Kodama, so that instead of circling back to the Pilgrims and Indians every autumn, children at Stanford do social-studies units on Asia, Africa, Australia, Mexico and South America. Students actively apply the lessons in foreign language and culture by video-conferencing with sister schools in Japan, Africa and Mexico, by exchanging messages, gifts and joining in charity projects. Stanford International shows what’s possible for a public elementary school, although it has the rare advantage of support from corporations like Nintendo and Starbucks, which contribute to its $1.7 million-a-year budget. Still, dozens of U.S. school districts have found ways to orient some of their students toward the global economy. Many have opened schools that offer the international baccalaureate (I.B.) program, a rigorous, off-the-shelf curriculum recognized by universities around the world and first introduced in 1968–well before globalization became a buzzword. To earn an I.B. diploma, students must prove written and spoken proficiency in a second language, write a 4,000-word college-level research paper, complete a real-world service project and pass rigorous oral and written subject exams. Courses offer an international perspective, so even a lesson on the American Revolution will interweave sources from Britain and France with views from the Founding Fathers. “We try to build something we call international mindedness,” says Jeffrey Beard, director general of the International Baccalaureate Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. “These are students who can grasp issues across national borders. They have an understanding of nuances and complexity and a balanced approach to problem solving.” Despite stringent certification requirements, I.B. schools are growing in the U.S.–from about 350 in 2000 to 682 today. The U.S. Department of Education has a pilot effort to bring the program to more low-income students. Read more at How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century – TIME.

WHEN St Leonard’s College became the first Victorian school to introduce the International Baccalaureate diploma in 1982, just two students enrolled – including the principal’s son. The only other school in Australia to teach the internationally recognised qualification – which requires students to study six subjects, including a second language, write a 4000-word research essay and perform community service – was Narrabundah College in Canberra. Thirty years later, the prestigious diploma is offered at 63 schools, including 16 schools in Victoria, which accounts for about 40 per cent of enrolments nationwide. Victorian schools that offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma. This year, Werribee Secondary School will become the first state school in Victoria to offer the IB diploma, which enables students to go on to study anywhere in the world. Selective-entry state school Melbourne High is also seeking authorisation to implement the program. St Leonard’s College student Kara Robinson, who was one of about 3000 Australian students to receive her results on Friday, was grateful for her school’s pioneering approach. Kara, who obtained a near-perfect score of 44/45, hopes to study a double environmental engineering and arts degree at Monash University this year. ”IB gives you a more in-depth preparation for university,” said Kara, who, for her 4000-word research essay, analysed whether water restrictions had led to a reduction in water usage. It was time-consuming – she trawled through the water bills of nine households over 10 years – and the sample size was too small to be statistically significant, but she did discover a correlation. Read more at Schools embrace Baccalaureate to produce ‘fantastic results’.